REEFER MADNESS: Study Of 4000 Students Shows Potheads End Up Three Years Behind Their Classmates

Cannabis can affect teenagers so severely that they end up three years behind their classmates, study finds

Results concluded from an investigation of 4,000 Canadian school children

Researchers found cannabis more toxic for youngsters’ brains than alcohol

Persistent use of the drug seriously affected basic reasoning skills

By STEPHEN ADAMS FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 20:35 EDT, 25 May 2019 | UPDATED: 10:37 EDT, 26 May 2019


Regularly smoking cannabis can affect teenagers so severely that they end up three years behind their classmates in terms of brain development, a landmark study has found.

The results of the investigation, which involved almost 4,000 secondary school children in Canada, led researchers to conclude cannabis is more toxic for youngsters’ brains than alcohol.

Persistent use of the drug seriously affected basic reasoning skills – while it also had a disastrous effect on self-control, they found.

Pupils who smoked cannabis saw their results deteriorate when their use of the drug increased +2
Pupils who smoked cannabis saw their results deteriorate when their use of the drug increased

Meanwhile, a separate study has found hard evidence that the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), causes changes in the brain that trigger schizophrenia.

In the high school study, researchers at Montreal University studied pupils from the time they entered the Canadian seventh grade – aged 12 or 13 years – for four years.

They regularly asked the young volunteers about their cannabis and alcohol use and put them through computer tests examining reasoning skills, short-term memory and self-control.

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